ABSTRACT
This chapter provides Asia profiles, including key information about the relevant corporate sustainability and responsibility (CSR) history, country-specific issues, trends, research, education and leading organizations. CSR in Asia is rooted in specific cultural traditions. In Asia, CSR activities are tied to three factors: localised issues, cultural traditions at a country level and historical events. The predominant social issues in Asia are education, poverty, environment and human rights. Extreme poverty —especially in the less developed Asian economies—leads to poor nutrition and impacts access to such basic needs as shelter, education and healthcare, thus creating the potential for extending the poverty problem across generations of families. Environmental degradation in Asia results in increased health problems and scarcity of resources. Asian CSR tends to emanate from culture, values and tradition. Many countries in Asia are signatories to the various International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, especially the core ILO conventions against child labour and discrimination in the workplace.
